The new education reform bill in the Massachusetts state legislature is notable for including regulations governing “innovation schools,” a turnaround model for chronically underperforming schools. According to the bill, “[s]chools that score in the lowest 20 per cent statewide…shall be deemed eligible for designation as underperforming or chronically underperforming.” In other words, these are schools full of students who are already not performing at grade level.
The bill’s solution? 21st century skills! It’s included as one of 13 baseline measures required in every turnaround plan: “In order to assess the school across multiple measures of school performance and student success, the turnaround plan shall include measurable annual goals including…(8) student acquisition and mastery of 21st-century skills.”
This means students in 369 Massachusetts schools will be subjected to the rigors of 21st century skills. Massachusetts’ most disadvantaged students soon will be wasting their time with the kind of lessons recommended on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ website: studying corporate logos and translating Shakespeare’s lines into text messages. Talk about leaving children behind…
So how does on measure “school performance and student success” using “measurable annual goals” including “student acquisition and mastery of 21st century skills?”
“In order to assess the school across multiple measures of school performance and student success, the turnaround plan shall include measurable annual goals including, but not limited to, the following: (1) student attendance ,dismissal rates and exclusion rates; (2) student safety and discipline; (3) student promotion and graduation and dropout rates; (4) student achievement on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System; (5) progress in areas of academic underperformance; (6) progress among subgroups of students, including low-income students as defined by chapter 70, limited English proficient students and students receiving special education; (7) reduction of achievement gaps among different groups of students; (8) student acquisition and mastery of 21st century skills; (9) development of college readiness, including at the elementary and middle school levels; (10) parent and family engagement; (11) building a culture of academic success among students; (12) building a culture of student support and success among school faculty and staff; and (13) developmentally appropriate child assessments from prekindergarten through third grade, if applicable.”
On the moral obligation of American business to help produce 21st century citizens:
http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=1347
This is the Annenberg series with John Merrow on New American Schools from the 1990s.